Sony’s Underwater Apps will make you want a waterproof smartphone

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Having a phone that is water resistant is fantastic for those times when you accidentally drop it into a puddle, but what happens when a manufacturer gets cocky enough to directly encourage submerging your device and then leaving it there? Sony decided to answer that question with their Experia Z1S and a series of what they call Underwater Apps.

Sony has worked with Motim Technologies to release six apps to the Google Play Store that are all specifically designed to work best when the phone is wet. Some of them, like Tiny Umbrella and Rainy-oke, are just cute apps designed to do something fun when a few droplets hit the screen. The others, however, specifically ask you to put your phone completely under water.

The Goldie app lets you enjoy the company of a tiny goldfish, who gets quite upset when you pull it out of water. Once you re-submerge the phone, however, it goes back to being a happy little fish. While your phone isn’t particularly useful to you when playing home to a tiny goldfish inside of a fishbowl, this is the kind of thing that would be hilarious to just leave on your desk at work to see how your co-workers react.

Games that require a gyroscope are a dime a dozen nowadays, but what about one that requires you to play underwater? Sink Sunk lets you pilot a submarine through a difficult maze by tilting your phone back and forth, but in order to play the game you have to put your phone underwater. After all, submarines don’t work in the air.

The Photo Lab app lets you take a photo and then pretend to process it as though you were in a traditional darkroom. You choose what chemical bath you want to wash your photo in on the screen, and then submerge your phone and gently move it around. The app will behave as though you are putting a photo in an actual chemical bath, and the image will slowly change right in front of you.

Continuing along this whole add water for fun concept, Plantimal is a strange cactus thing with eyeballs that grows when you water it. This one probably doesn’t require your phone to be completely underwater the entire time, and is another one of those apps that would be a lot of fun to mess with co-workers by using. It’s also a little on the creepy side with those blinking eyeballs, but the idea is a lot of fun.

Each of these apps are free, and are specifically built to function with the Xperia Z1S. You could certainly try the apps out on whatever hardware you want, since Sony doesn’t limit what devices can install them, but you should probably avoid that unless waterproof is listed as a feature.